Author: Chris McGlynn

Johnny Florida

Chris McGlynn Football, NFL

The NFL season is entering week 12 and as always, the league is crazy right about now. Some teams are starting to drop out of playoff contention though. The Oakland Raiders were eliminated on Sunday and more are sure to follow.

I want to turn my attention the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs have been underwhelming in 2014 posting a 2-8 record so far. The team is only two games back in the division but they do not have a win against a division opponent. The Buccaneers could be set to reload in the offseason though with a potential top-10 (or even top-5) pick in what is shaping up to be a very deep and talented draft. However, I think Tampa’s main priority should be someone who was already drafted.

One of the Buccaneers points of weakness this season has been quarterback. Josh McCown continues to prove that last season was a fluke and Mike Glennon looks like serviceable, yet replaceable backup. Clearly, neither one of the two will be starting next season under center, barring some sort of injury elsewhere. So I think it could be time for a fresh start for a former Heisman-winning dual threat quarterback, not too far removed for his days playing in the SEC, whose playmaking ability has created a borderline cult-like following.

Before I lose all my credibility, I do not mean Tim Tebow. I am talking about Johnny Manziel. This might still seem like a head-scratcher. Manziel has spent this season on the bench and has yet to prove himself in the NFL but there are a couple of reasons that I think Tampa is a fit for Johnny.

First, this is a Buccaneers offense that needs a shot in the arm. It ranks 28th in rushing and 19th in passing yards. I think that this could be a pivotal move to turn the Lovie Smith era around in year 2. Looking at the Bucs’ offense, you see a young, talented wide receiver in Mike Evans, who is coming off a 7-catch, 200+ yard performance against Washington. Evans has plenty of history with Manziel as they played together in college. Evans was also Manziel’s favorite target. The two combined for roughly 2,500 yards and 17 touchdowns in over their two years at Texas A&M. Manziel can also be a threat with his legs. He could provide a spark for Tampa’s anemic ground attack. This is also a team attempting to find its identity on offense. It presents the option to build around Manziel’s playmaking ability. I also think Lovie Smith’s disciplined coaching style would keep the rookie, known for his off the field antics, in line. Things could fall into place pretty well with a switch.

While Manziel is currently a member of the Browns, Cleveland seems set with Brian Hoyer as their quarterback and reluctant to let Manziel see the field. This could present a prime opportunity for Bucs to snag the former Aggie, and even a late round pick, in return for a disgruntled Vincent Jackson, whom the team is reportedly looking to move anyway. That could create a hole at wideout for Cleveland but with that top-10 pick, Tampa could easily target Alabama’s Amari Cooper. An offense featuring Manziel, Evans, Cooper and either a big-name free agent running back (Marshawn Lynch maybe?) or a rookie from a very deep draft class (Melvin Gordan perhaps?) could be downright scary. This just seems to make too much sense to me. Let me know what you think.

The end of an era

Chris McGlynn Baseball, MLB

A legend said goodbye last night. Fans waved to their leader as he took the field one last time. Family and friends gathered to meet him as he walked off that diamond in the Bronx. The last of the “Core Four” walked away from a place he called home. Derek Jeter played his last ever game in a pinstripe uniform in the house that he has so famously built.

All of this of course happened after the Yankee captain stepped into that batter’s box one last time and hit an opposite field single to score a man from second and end the game against the Orioles. The game doesn’t mean anything in the standings, but it certainly means a lot to all of the fans who watched it unfold. Jeter walked it off and then took one last walk around his home to wave farewell to all the people who had come to watch him one last time.

They used to call the old Yankee Stadium “The House that Ruth Built.” There have been some to coin the new home as “The House that Jeter Built” and after last night, they definitely should. In case you weren’t aware, Derek Jeter has been on his farewell tour all season. He played in his final all-star game, he passed Honus Wagner to move into number six on the all-time hits list and he gave Yankee fans one last season of fun.

Now, I will be the first to say that all of the praise Jeter has gotten this year for his play. He really has been average at best, especially by the standard fans have come to expect of him. But it has been fun to watch him go. He has been the iconic face of the most successful sports franchise in the world. And now, it seems like suddenly and too soon, the sporting world must say goodbye to the Yankee shortstop. And upon his retirement, it makes you wonder who is going to that kid from Kalamazoo as the face of this Yankee team. (I say replace for lack of a better word cause no one can really replace what he has done). Could it be David Robertson? Or Brett Gardner perhaps? Or maybe someone we don’t know yet? There is no real way of knowing until it happens.

But until then, the baseball world will be engrossed with just how amazing of an ending that was to one of the most respected and successful careers in all of sports. The only guy who might have done it better is John Elway. And I say might of. The fans at the stadium let Jeter know how much they appreciated his two decades of work chanting, “THANK-YOU JE-TER” for the majority of last night. Jeter kept it as classy as ever and thanked the fans for all their support and saying he didn’t know what they were thanking him for. He was just doing his job. But now I am going to say it too. Thank you Jeter for proving that there is a right way to go about being a professional athlete. Thank you for being respectful, passionate and humble playing for all these years. So this is farewell captain. Thanks for all the memories.

The sun has truly set on an era. What a way for it to end.

Ryan Tannehill on the way out?

Chris McGlynn Football, NFL

If you are surprised by this headline, you should be. It doesn’t really make a ton of sense. However, this is a legitimate consideration down in South Beach where the Miami Dolphins coaching staff is currently dissecting a 34-15 loss at the hands of the previously winless Kansas City Chiefs. Sure Tannehill didn’t look very good in the game, but I am shocked that I am seeing people calling for him to be replaced. It just does not add up to me that Miami would be looking to pull the plug on Tannehill so soon.

Let’s look at his stats. So far, in Tannehill’s very short career (only 35 games) he has thrown for 7,831 yards (roughly 225 yards per game), 40 touchdowns (just over one per game), 32 interceptions (just under one per game) and has an average quarterback rating of 78.6. Those numbers don’t jump of the page, but you need to look into them a little bit. Tannehill is only beginning his third season in the NFL. His rookie numbers are not that impressive but not many rookie quarterbacks’ are. From year one to year two, Tannehill threw 12 more touchdowns and for over 600 more yards, falling just short of 4,000 for the season. That is a nice improvement for just one year. His quarterback rating also jumped from 76.1 to 81.7. Statistically, there is some hope for him, even if he has had a bit of a rough start to 2014. (Stats from espn.com).

Because his stats are not eye popping in a pass heavy league, people argue that Tannehill is not a suitable quarterback. But can you really blame him for it? His supporting cast has been awful. He had the worst offensive line in football last year as he was sacked a league-high 58 times last year or 3.63 times per game. He also has not had much help in the running game either. The Dolphins ranked 26th in the NFL last season running the football and only mustered eight rushing touchdowns as a team, one coming from Tannehill himself. Then there are the receivers. I don’t really have too many statistics on this one but Tannehill hasn’t had much to work with. He has big play threat Mike Wallace who is a solid receiver but then the drop off following that is enormous. Rookie wide out Jarvis Landry and consistently average Brian Hartline are nice options and Charles Clay is a serviceable tight end but none of them really make Tannehill’s life much easier. They make a couple of plays here and there but none of them is a playmaker in an offense that desperately lacks one.

Now to break down Tannehill’s first games of the season. He looked average in the season opener against New England finishing with a completion percentage of 56.2 and throwing for 178 yards. He did not play great but he made enough plays to help the Dolphins win. The running game finally stepped up and made a difference for him making his life easier. Then the second week against the Bill, the Dolphins offense reverted to 2013 form. Tannehill got sacked 4 times and was asked to throw the ball 49 times as the running game was stagnant all day finishing with only 80 yards (Tannehill had 11 of them) at less than 4 yards a carry. He managed a touchdown pass but he also threw an interception. Despite him not playing well, he was still Miami’s best offensive player. Then yesterday against the Chiefs, Tannehill was truly at fault. He avoided throwing an interception but his completion percentage dropped below 50 and the running game did plenty to help him finishing with 132 yards excluding Tannehill at 6.9 yards a clip. Once again though, Tannehill was sacked four times and definitely felt the pressure.

What this long-winded analysis is trying to get at is that I don’t think it is fair to blame this all on Tannehill. He hasn’t played particularly well to start the year but he is not the only player failing to meet expectations. The running game has been up and down through 3 weeks. He still doesn’t have a go to offensive playmaker and he is still there as one of the most sacked quarterbacks in the game. If Tannehill continues to fail to show up, then maybe it is time to look elsewhere. Otherwise, benching the third year kid for a veteran back up in Matt Moore doesn’t add up. The Dolphins organization already knows what Moore can do and he is not going to be improving any time soon. Tannehill being as young as he is can still get better. If you ask me, they need to stick with this kid a little longer before they declare him a bust.

Monday Night Preview: Week 3

Chris McGlynn Football, NFL

Tonight will wrap up week three of the NFL season as the Chicago Bears visit the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium tonight. This is an inter-conference match up that features one of the NFL’s most potent offenses against one of the league’s best front sevens. This is an important game for both teams as they look to keep pace with the leaders in their division. There is also the interesting storyline of former Jets wide receiver Santonio Holmes returning to play his former team for the first time.

The predictions for this one are all over the place because both teams are so inconsistent. The Bears got shocked at home against Buffalo week one before taking a trip to the San Francisco 49ers new home where they completed a huge second half comeback to win the game late in the fourth quarter. The Jets handled the Raiders at home week one in what was an ugly game for both teams and then traveled to Green Bay where the outplayed the Packers in the first half, before blowing an 18 point lead and overturning their own scoring play, not by penalty but by an ill-advised timeout.

Both teams sit at .500 for the moment, but the Bears definitely have the momentum coming into the game. Quarterback Jay Cutler looked very comfortable in the second half of last week’s game finding his collection of big targets all over the field. Look for Cutler to continue that tonight with Jets cornerback Dee Milliner likely out for the game. Bears’ running back Matt Forte might find it difficult to get going in between the tackles against the Jets’ stout defensive front but if Bears’ coach Marc Trestman is creative with screens and counters, that could get Forte in some space and let him do some damage.

For the Jets, they have had the week to review what went wrong in their meltdown against Green Bay. The Jets’ best chance at hanging around in this game is to pound the Bears with the run. While they have improved from last year, the Bills pushed around the Bears in their first game, which could be a blueprint for success for this other New York team. Defensively, Jets’ coach Rex Ryan is going to have to balance the desire to get after Cutler and his fear of being burned by the likes of Alshon Jeffery, Brandon Marshall and Martellus Bennett. That trio could spell trouble for a depleted New York secondary. Ryan might be better off running a lot of zone concepts in order to protect some of his young corners from going one-on-one with some of the league’s best receivers.

Overall, I think we are going to see two very different styles of offense as the Bears will run screens early and often while looking to take plenty of deep shots. The Jets will focus heavily on running the ball and keeping the ball out of Cutler’s hands. Their passing game will likely focus on short routes and high percentage throws, especially with Jets’ wide out Eric Decker being hobbled. This should be a competitive game but the Bears should prove to be too much for the Jets, as they can’t seem to find enough offensive firepower to support their reeling secondary. Bears win it with a late touchdown to seal the victory 27-17.

Commissionner Goodell speaks on the recent chaos in the NFL

Chris McGlynn Football, NFL, Social Issues

Roger Goodell addressed the media today in a prepared statement regarding the past few weeks of anarchy the NFL has experienced. Goodell was humble and took a large portion of the blame for the mistakes that were made, specifically in the case of Ray Rice. He also addressed many of the steps the NFL has taken so far, including partnering with major domestic violence and sexual assault organizations, and what the NFL still has to do, namely the creation of a public policy committee and the implementation of a new public policy by the Super Bowl. The speech was sincere and Goodell has taken the right steps to correcting this mess but there is still one that he refuses to acknowledge: his resignation as commissioner of the NFL.

Goodell has had his fair share of criticism over the years, from the handling lockout of 2010 to his questionable fines with former linebacker James Harrison to his reinstatement of players with checked pasts (i.e. Michael Vick). Those have all been water under the bridge for the commissioner but yet this time around I don’t think that can be allowed. Roger Goodell absolutely butchered the Ray Rice fiasco. Whether or not he had the infamous video from inside the elevator is inadmissible because he should not have needed it to adequately punish Rice. Not to mention that following the initial two game suspension of Rice, Goodell turned around and suspended the Broncos kicker Matt Prater for twice as long because he had violated the drug policy.

Now, I am not the first one to start calling for Goodell to step down. I believe that started with Kieth Olbermann and was continued this past week as various women’s groups and even some high profile league sponsors including Bud Light and Nike. Yet, Goodell has simply responded and said that he has dealt with criticism before. The most sickening thing so far has been that he has not even contemplated resigning. He made that clear today in his press conference stating that he is more focused on doing his job. That is all well and good if you are proficient at completing said job. And when asked why he thinks he deserves to stay on as commissioner, the first words out of his mouth were, “Because I acknowledged my mistake.” Can someone please tell him that is not how this works? Rice, Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy and Vikings running back Adrian Peterson have all acknowledged their mistakes but hell none of them currently are at their jobs. Goodell should not simply be allowed to determine that he is trying to make up for things now so he should just be given a free pass. This man deserves to be punished for his actions as much as the people he has wrongly been evaluating.

So from here, I really hope that the pressure of these sponsors and other outside groups put enough pressure on Goodell to step down or on the league to fire him. Now the only way that Goodell can actually be fired is if the NFL owners agree to do so. However, the sponsors are in a very unique position of threatening to walk away with all of their money, leaving the league without its largest stream of revenue. So is it possible that Goodell is given his walking papers? Possibly. Is it likely? I sure as hell hope so. There is absolutely no reason that Goodell should been in a position of power right now or ever again for that matter after how poorly he has done exercising the power he currently has.

Alright, I rest my case. I hope that somewhere out there, executives of major companies will read this and realize that this cannot go on. And it pains me to write this. I am a huge football fan and I love watching games every Sunday but right now, it sickens me at poorly run the league I love seems to be. Let me know what you think. I would love to hear opinions on this one.